My rescently acquired 03 SE
 

Well, i have mentioned that i got an 03 maxima rescently, so here it is. I have strongly been looking for a 6 speed so it took me a while to find one in Los angeles, ca...

I have bought this car for cheap and knew that it had problems when i bought it... It pretty much had a code for multiple cylinder misfire...
After taking the car to my mechanic, ive been told that i need a new engine, clutch and full tune up... All of the work came out to about 2300 including labor... Engine now has 74K.

My impressions: im impressed at how smooth the car is. Its good on power and im impressed at how well put together maxima is... My last one sqeaked over bumps, whistled on the highway and i still loved it. But this one is very solid.

The car seems to pull hard until 5000 rpm but winds out after 5500 rpm... Is that normal?? Knock sensor issue on new engine?? Or do i just need to start modding?

So here it is, with the engine, clutch replaced and fully tuned up i feel like i got me a car that would last me at least 200K miles, If you guys are wondering how much the whole total cost was, its $6300, not too shabby considering i set aside 8grand for a maxima...
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...895/mymax5.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...895/mymax4.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...895/mymax3.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...895/mymax2.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...895/mymax1.jpg

congrats, same color as mine, i love it :) hope she treats you well

Same as mine except for the clutch pedal and the tan interior vs my grey.

$2300 for the work you had done wasn't bad at all. It is normal for acceleration to flatten out somewhat after 5000 rpms, although if it is excessive I would check for some minor exhaust restriction, most likely the cats. The NWP block plate will definitely help you above 5000 rpms assuming your lack of pull is normal. GAB also helps.

nice find btw.
time to upgrade to leather :)

pretty good price bro

What would be wrong with the engine at such a young age?

VQ35 has great low end and midrange power, however it's not really a screamer as far as power delivery near redline. Get to modding! :D

Great grab!!! Now have some fun with her!!

niceee, very rare to find a 6spd in LA.

what was wrong with the engine? the vq35 pretty much bulletproof except for maybe a little oil consumption. $2300 for all that stuff is a really good deal though!

fixed. :)

car looks good, nice find. what was wrong with the engine? how was the oil in it?
cuz i was getting p0300 when i got mine,2 month ago, did you get any drivability problems?

Great find and good deal. Let the mods begin.

Speak for your self, since I took out the VIAS last night mine screams from about 3800 all the way to redline.

To the OP not a bad deal, plus you have a bit left over to start a few mods right now you got lots to choose from. Just take your time, find out what you want your car to be and start lurking those classifieds.

Nice find, the body looks great! With the new powertrain, you are all set! Same as mine but I have the older-smaller brother...

new engine ( or newer engine ) , clutch and a tune up for @2300??


wow thats a steal!

so you bought the car for $4000 and did all that work?

nice! Had that been me i would have done the work myself and saved $$$$ on labor FTW! ^_^

Well I meant stock VQ35, VIAS delete does a lot for the 5.5 gens.

My car screams all the way past redline :wavey:

Me 3, when I saw all of that stuff originally wrong I was like what the he*l. I'm curious to know what went wrong with it as well, thats alot of issues.

I thought that was your passenger.. :D

Your front license plate is driving me crazy, so crooked! :p

Good find tho :D

great find bud! me likey!!!!

thanx for the feedback guys. I drove the car today again and it does feel like its restricted. I mean i know that its not a sports car but the pull is just not there for some reason... The power comes on gradually and smooth like in automatic... Ran with an 08 chevy trailblazer on an incline and was slowly creeping away from him with me having a 250lb passenger... I really think that the car might be restricted by an exhaust or intake, or knock sensor( if the issue even exists in these motors)... There is just something that is driving me crazy. I guess i would just have to film a 0-60, 0-80 run and see if that is normal or not... The car chirps wheels into second...

When i got the car, the engine was done for... It ran on 4 cylinders... The guy really beat the engine up. He was initially asking 5600 with claiming that it needs injectors replaced, but when i checked it out, i clearly told him whats going on.... I offered him a realistic 3600 but he turned it down, so i said " i will give u no more that 4K" and he took it. If i didnt get a good deal on fixing the car, i wouldnt even bother lol

Very nice pickup, and you say 200k miles well take good care by doing regular maintenance and using 91 octane fuel only and you'll see over 400k miles from the VQ engine

man, id so love to find a deal like that

Yup. wonderful engine. 3rd VQ in the family for me.

yeah something is definetly up with your car. i have the VQ30 and i know that no stock Trailblazer will be next to me. and im bone stock.

Just came back, did 0-60 2 times, both managed in low 8 second range. Yes i know how to drive....

Im gonna check out the car again... Idles fine and everything though...

:chuckle:

:laugh:

Nice im loving the fact that its stick:sprint:

btw, im almost positive that its the knock sensor issue because i could hear some pinging at near the redline....

good deal! I wish I had 6spd... too bad about the engine but at least you know it is good now. Yeah definitely something wrong if you barely pulled on a blazer... I barely pull on sports cars but an suv should be way back in the rear view for sure.

Yeah you definately have something going on, if you can shift you should be about 6 or so to 60 some have even gotten high 5's in the 6 spds stock. 8 is close what VQ30 powered automatic should do.

Like i mentioned before, i am 99.999% sure its the knock sensor. I hear some ticking, pinging after 5000 rpm

I had the same issue on my previous 95... Replaced the knock senror, got me at least a full second faster car...

Great that you know whats causing it then, wish you the best with your new purchase!

That's about 2 seconds off from where it should be. I know my car picked up a noticeable amount of power when I replaced the original precats with some low mileage used ones and replaced the main cat with a test pipe.

If your original engine was using oil, odds are all three cats have a lot of crap built up in them.

hurry up and get an intake, exhaust, and lower the damn thing

GREAT FIND man congratz :)

the original engine had an oil blacker than pitch dark, i think it might be the cats too, im on original ones, this might explain the "choke" feeling. i might just do the testpipe mod after all. Just gotta get paid now haha
Im just loving all the helpful tips feedback here, thanks all guys.

Btw, Just done a smog today and it passed with no problems at all. The guy said... "Hey man, u need a new clutch, this one feels hard"

Lol, it got replaced 100 miles ago :lol:

how and where do you do the test pipe test? i have a feeling my cats are horrible, and id love to get the hi flows in there or test pipes to know for sure.. where can i do that?